What!? I staggered back, my grip going limp, letting him fall to the floor, gasping and holding his throat as I felt lightheaded, the control room spinning around me. I whispered, “My... son?” None of us knew which of the secondborn were ours even though we desperately wished to. To never know your child is a curse. But in a civilization with such a small population, it was a necessity.
Charon was – my son? I said nothing as Aphrodite dragged me, unresisting, out the door as guards converged around the man who I realized now, had the same hazel eyes I saw in the mirror every day.
Chapter 10
Enemy at the Gates
It took a while for me to calm down and think straight. Charon was my son, and he just betrayed Olympus. My son was a traitor, and I almost killed him. No, it was that damn Rhea, she had warped his mind and that of others, making them believe she was their goddess. I had to shift my anger to her. What was I going to...
Aphrodite slapped my cheek hard enough for motes of light to burst in my vision. “Artemis, get ahold of yourself. I've said your name five times now! Our people need the Hunter. Don't dwell on Charon, it is not his fault. He will receive the help he needs, and what is done is done. The enemy approaches.”
I nodded as the sting on my cheek subsided into a warm heat. I was glad that we healed so fast, or I would have a bruise from that one. I locked eyes with her, her hair that light swallowing ebony, then bobbed my head once. “You're right. I'm sorry.”
I started back toward the doors then hesitated when three thirdborn guards dragged Charon past us toward the isolation building where we held some of the Jotunn experiments as we studied how to best counter the threats they represented. That is where he would be held until we figured out what to do with him. We had no security cells, as we had never needed anything like that before, except during Apollo's uprising.
His hazel eyes locked on mine, and he stopped his struggling for a moment. I could see him searching my eyes as well, looking for the truth of Hera's words. Just as we didn't know who our children were, they didn't know who their parents were. Why am I just now realizing just how messed up our people are?
I reached a hand partially out, but he was pulled away by the women. I absently wondered which child he was. Was he my first born? I don't even know how many of my ten are sons or daughters.
In inhaled deeply then turned back to the doors. Right. My people needed me just then. Dite gave me an encouraging look, and we stepped back into the chaos of the main control room. Everyone was shouting orders over coms or to the people streaming in through the various doors in the room.
I moved over to tactical and tapped Tauran's shoulder, and the small man slid out of the chair to allow me to take my place. I watched all of the hybrid Olympian and Asgard tactical plots and scan data and took it all in in an instant.
Inatra was there, yelling over the chaos to Hera, “We're jamming their communications with their mothership, but a burst got through before we could. We don't know how much information made it out at light speed it will take almost five hours to reach the Titan ship.”
Zeus looked over from where he was listening to the reports being shouted about. I inclined my head and snapped out an order over coms, “Launch the Lances. The Citadel cannot fold, run attack formation Epsilon One.” That was just a delaying tactic. Kroth... we needed to abandon our home to the enemy at the gates.
Father deflated at the realization as to what I was having our fighters do. He exhaled loudly then his voice boomed out over the Citadel wide channel. “All Olympians to the main courtyard for emergency fold. This is not a drill. Case Omega, I repeat case Omega.”
That was frightening to hear. We had done drills over the centuries to be prepared for everything, even this. The abandonment of the Citadel we had known our entire lives. Omega meant to bring whatever supplies you could carry and prepare for mass fold using the portable jump packs.
His head snapped over to me when I blurted out, “Apollo! Orbital cannons!”
His automatic response, in his deep booming voice was, “Got it, Art. Already attempting to target.”
Hera's attention was on me now as I explained to Zeus, “Two of the Halfling vessels are breaking for orbit. Likely trying to get past the communications jamming field of the Asgard.”
I slapped the air, and a hologram of the space tracking system bloomed in the space in the middle of the room, and I moved over to it. Apollo, Zeus, and Hera joined me. Apollo pinched a red icon, and a cloaked orbital cannon grew in the display, and he selected a secondary, then their visual targeting displays overlaid the virtual screen.
We saw the two vessels rocketing toward open space, and with a thought, Apollo was using visual targeting as we couldn't get a true lock on the ships because of that tyching armor alloy of theirs. He started firing the ungodly powerful beam weapons that had torn Ragnarok generational transport vessels to shreds, as if they were made of tinfoil. There were a few misses, most hit. The vessels were batted around by the blasts like a Terran cat would a ball of yarn, but they kept accelerating.
That gods be damned Mitheral armor of theirs ablated the strikes as he fired again and again. Their plating was a tiny fraction as thick as that on the Star Killers, and we could see some surface damage, scorching, and pitting on them, but they kept accelerating. Kroth!
I snatched a cannon from the holographic display on the outer ring. As Apollo continued to fire over and over. I hissed as I moved the cannon out of its orbital position, right into the path of the oncoming Halfling ships.
I spoke as he gave me an inquisitive look, “Jotunn vessels have only one weakness, they cannot protect areas not covered by Mithreal. The Ragnarok discovered this while battling them. Their gun-ports are exposed to space by necessity and were taken out by Ragnarok weapons fire. And in this case...” I stabbed my finger at the incoming ships.
Apollo growled out as he saw it and he was moving another outer ring cannon into position, “The cockpit windows.”
I nodded. The windows were, no doubt, protected by the impressive force fields that the Jotunn could create, but these weapons could bisect a small moon. I hissed, “Fire!”
We hit them at a shallow angle, and the ships went spinning from the force of the blasts but one re-vectored and tried for open space again. I could see the shimmering of a force field where a window should have been. And I fired again as Apollo fired three cannons at the other until the spinning ship vanished in a ball of superheated plasma.
I cringed when the vessel dodged my blast, burping out its own deadly fire in random directions, trying for a lucky hit on the cloaked weapons platform. My stray shot had likely destroyed miles of jungle where it hit the planet, the cannons were never meant to be facing the planet. I had a split second to make a decision before the ship blazed past and its weak point could no longer be targeted.
I moved my finger through the display. Apollo almost took over to try to fire again when he realized what I was doing. We didn't need to damage our planet any more than I just had. I had moved our cloaked orbital cannon into the path of the retreating Halfling ship, who would be unaware that anything was in its path.
We shielded our eyes from the brilliant flash on the screen as that particular threat was eliminated by the ensuing collision. We heard the growls of appreciation around us as we grinned at each other then went back to our stations.
I watched the Lances vectoring off to meet the oncoming vessels. Ten minutes until contact. We'd need them to hold them off for twenty more to get everyone folded to another world.
I looked up when Arina spoke next to me. “Case Omega?”
I deflated and explained as I watched the plots on my screen. “We're abandoning Olympus. We cannot defend against so many ships, and there is still the Star Killer out there. Our position has been compromised and the Citadel cannot space fold yet.”
Her eyes widened, and she spun around, blurting out, “Hera, hold! You need not abandon your home!”
I froz
e for a moment then turned to look up at her. She was shaking her head. “We can move the portable shield generators we have fabricated so far into place with magnetic harvesters to power them, for a loose shield around the core of the Citadel. The Three Embers and I can reinforce it enough to stop all but the fire from a Star Killer's main weapons until help can arrive from Valhalla.”
She smiled at me sweetly when she saw my shock, and nodded, “I was making the final adjustments on the temporary Bifrost gateway when the alarm went up.”
Then Inatra hissed loudly, a predatory smile on her face as she said in realization, “Hornets!”
I swallowed and then repeated, “Hornets.” Valhalla had twenty Hornets on Ragnarok. Their nano-lattice was far superior to our shielding technology, and their magnetic lances were designed to slice through Mithereal! At least this would give us breathing room while we determined what the Star Killer would do. It would give us a window of a week or two to come up with a better shielding solution for the entire Citadel. And with the ability to get shield projectors and power units from Valhalla we may be able to protect ourselves after all.
I looked at my parents. “Have everyone stay in the courtyard just in case, but the Asgard may be able to save us.”
Hera asked, her eyes narrowed at the Little One, trying to gauge her confidence and sincerity, “Is it possible Arina? Can the Asgard help?”
The little one nodded as she started running toward the door. I heard her voice though she didn't talk, over the Whisker Net, contacting Odin and telling him what we needed.
Hera hesitantly announced over our coms, “All Olympians, hold in the courtyard for further orders.”
I smiled as Inatra joined her wife and I spun to my console then called our ships, “All Lances, close on the enemy but do not engage, I repeat, do not engage. Shadow the Halflings and await orders and reinforcement.” Our ships armaments would be less than useless against the vessels anyway.
I silently prayed to whatever gods there were, that this worked as I stood, motioning Tauran to take my station as I followed the Little One out. I tapped a data feed from the tactical station on a virtual screen in my heads up and nudged my eyes to the Asgard Whisker Net, knowing they would supply it to their Valklopt if we could get the Bifrost working.
The girls were already in the courtyard near the gateway with a large dome shield keeping the gathering Olympians clear. I realized why. If this worked, then that flimsy looking piece of Asgard tech would have attack vessels sized just right to fit through, flying out of the event horizon in the loop.
I realized Hera and Dite were on my six as I simply stepped through the shield that was holding everyone back. I turned back when they stopped, looking at the bubble and sighed, reaching through and pulling the women with me. The shock on their faces was priceless when they passed right through.
I explained, “It is an intelligent shield,” as we walked up to the Asgard who were all working on the Bifrost gateway. Arina and Inatra no doubt had already informed them all what was happening.
Arina stepped to the controls, and I noted Aphrodite had stepped next to me, her hair and eyes telling me of the anxiety flowing through her as she stared at the device and grabbed my hand. I stopped moving and didn't dare look down. I exhaled slowly and just watched Arina's hands flashing over the controls.
I asked quietly over coms as we watched her, “Lance Flight One, time to Citadel?”
The response was chilling. “Ten point four units.”
Kroth, approximately nine minutes.
Arina called out, “Clear the aperture.”
We all instinctively moved back beside her.
She hit a button, and with a whine of power that went into the ultrasonic, and the power in the air causing the hair on my arms to stand on end, a quantum tunnel shimmered into existence.
Odin could be seen on the other side, like some strange window or mirror, I could see they were at the main Bifrost Terminal there in Valhalla. After a moment he was telling Arina, “We have to calibrate and test the stability of the quantum resonance.”
Inatra hissed in frustration and thrust an arm through. A second or so later we saw her arm appear in Valhalla. Ice caked her hand, and she pulled it back out. Her hand was severely cold burned, the flesh damaged and sizzling, and she growled out to Odin, “Calibrated and stability tested, father. We need those Hornets now!”
The man chuckled at his Ragnarok daughter and said, “You're as bad as Kara, Fox.”
This please Inatra and Odin stepped out of view as he called out to us, “Incoming.”
We all moved back slightly and then one after another, sleek wind riders with the narrow noses of the Hornets shot through the event horizon. Ice streamed away off their nano-lattices as they shot toward the sky, slicing through our shroud like it wasn't there, then vectoring toward the incoming enemy as their chameleon shrouds made them fade from sight.
It was such an awe-inspiring sight to see. Some of our people were so shocked they were taking a knee and averting their eyes, giving a centurion salute to the ships as they vanished into the sky. I heard mother whispering, “It really works.” I shared a smile with Dite and pulled her hand up to kiss the back of it in my excitement. I hesitated then let our hands drop, still clasped. What the tych was I doing?
As the last Hornet shot through the gateway, Kitty shouted out “Yeeetttaaa!” As she flipped through the air to land on top of the vessel. Grabbing a recessed seam designed for her on its roof, and then fading from the visible light spectrum. The girl was one of a kind. I did a double-take when I noticed Hera looked worried for the girl. She didn't realize that the younger Kate was more at home in the air than on the ground, and twice as dangerous.
Then I hailed our ships, “Lance Flight One, incoming friendlies. They will engage the enemy, provide support cover only.” We didn't need to get in the way of the Folkvangr pilots. The only Asgard Valklopt was Kitty, the rest were Valkfela from Folkvangr, as they didn't have the same moral reticence about striking first that the Valkyrie had. I knew that Inatra or Arina were already feeding our ships the information they would need to see the Asgard coming.
Then without missing a single heartbeat, Arina was in front of the gateway, calling for as many mag sleds of portable shield generators and power supplies that could be passed through or packed into wind riders. None but the bravest of Valkyrie dared step through the Bifrost without a wind rider to protect them from the absolute zero of a hyper-compressed magnetic quantum tunnel passage.
Inatra, Intark, and Talia were calling out for people to stay clear of the approach zone that was etched on the landing pad the Bifrost terminal was set up on. It was just large enough for a wind rider. On Valhalla and the other worlds, the platforms were large enough for the hover trains to pass back and forth between realms with active gateways between all the planets in the cosmic engine except Olympus and Hades.
If we survive this day, then once we have an accord with the united races, a huge transportation terminal will be built in our Citadel as well, or if no accord can be decided upon, somewhere outside our gates as it is on Alfheim. The Elves trust no-one after being enslaved and nearly wiped out by the Ragnarok before the New Peace that resulted from the Uniting.
I have had the pleasure of knowing seventeen Elves personally. Their society has developed to what would be the equivalent of the medieval era of Earth. They are a lightning fast, wiry race, with fine features and of all things, pointy ears. Those ears when coupled with the rare smile we can get from them, made them devastatingly sexy. They were the quickest of all the races, with reflexes bordering on the improbable.
Their lifespans are short, like those of the few humans unaided by Asgard nanites. So I have seen the Alfheim diplomatic peace ambassador assigned to Valhalla age and pass on, time and again. Just to be replaced with another. They are a very sneaky race, and all know the ambassador is truly a spy.
The current one is also the most playful of the lot, Jania. She doe
sn't even try to hide that she is to gather information to report to her people. She'll even make a show of stealing things like iso-pads with a grin on her face saying, “I'm just going to take this, and put it in my pack,” knowing it to be worthless to her people since it would dissolve into base proteins if tampered with or any disassembly is attempted. And unlike the others, the woman has made many fast friends in Valhalla, including myself.
I cringe to think about what Jania could do with an Olympian bow, as the hand-carved hardwood one she carries, she can fire three times faster than even me, and her unassisted aim is almost on par with mine.
I had to chuckle as I looked at Dite beside me, still clasping my hand. The blonde elf reminded me a lot of Aphrodite. And she could tease almost as well for being so very young. To us, twenty-five years is the blink of an eye, though to her, it is a third of her life.
The woman is quite evil to Samantha. She teases her relentlessly like Dite does me. I don't know if Samantha's bashful innocence makes her a fun target for sexual innuendo, or if the Elven woman actually has an interest in the young lady. She knows her people's laws forbade any type of relationship with a 'kleshnie,' or outsider, especially after the Ragnarok had enslaved them for so long.
I hesitated when Arina told Odin, “We'll need Thea's help here to determine exactly what these ships are capable of and to help me calibrate the shields. We don't have much time.”
Kroth! What was the Little One thinking? I moved beside her and asked in a low tone, “Is that... wise? You know how my people feel about Titans.”
She turned to me slowly and said in a tone I had never heard from her before. It was one of strained patience as she said without whispering, “Do your people wish to abandon their home? Or can they put aside their prejudice long enough to save your Citadel? You seem fond enough of Thea.”
I inhaled deeply through my nose as I looked up into the sky, then closed my eyes and nodded. I opened my eyes to see her customary sweet smile beaming at me again as she said, “I thought so, sister.”
Tales From Olympus: Gods Reunited Page 12